You've probably never hear of Richard Berkowitz. But if you've ever used a condom -- or asked your man to -- with the goal of protecting yourself from HIV, you have him to thank.
Both Berkowitz and his friend Michael Callen (who did become a revered voice in the AIDS fight before he died of the disease in 1993) took up the disease-control concepts of their physician and friend, Joseph Sonnabend, and began urging gay men to avoid unprotected sex as early as 1982 -- and were treated as pariahs by a segment of the gay community that accused them of being sex-negative.
Inspired by Berkowitz's book, Stayin' Alive: The Invention of Safe Sex, published in 2003, Sex Positive brings to light -- through Berkowitz's eyes as well as through those of some who once stood against him -- the daunting quest he took on to save the lives of the men around him and ended up making the concept of 'safer sex' almost second nature for today's generation.
